Fans of the Irish band U2 should wait a little bit longer for the release of the band’s reissued 1983 live albums.  The albums “Live at Red Rocks” and “Under a Blood Red Sky” were scheduled for release last September 30 of 2008 but this did not materialize because of delays in studio sessions.  U2 has moved the release of these albums for 2009. 

“Live at Red Rocks” is U2’s first concert video which will be made available for their fans in DVD format. The DVD will include digitally regarded U2 photos, a commentary from the director, a 5.1 mix and five songs that have not been previously released.  The deluxe version of the two albums, “Under a Blood Red Sky” in CD and “Live at Red Rocks” in DVD formats are also very much awaited by their fans. 

U2’s Bono said they were expecting to wrap up the album in time for the September release but said they have yet to uncover some priceless stuff to be included in the album so the wait will be all worth it.  He said 2009 will definitely be U2’s year and the album will make sure of that. 

The two albums of the band are much-awaited despite the band being active in the concert tour circuit.  This proves that their fans could not get enough of the Grammy-winning rock band who promises to make it up to their fans with the release of the albums as well as their future concert tours. 

Online ticket sellers are already preparing for the still-unscheduled concert tours by U2 for 2009.  Ticket sales for U2 concerts are expected to be in high demand once the schedules are out for their concerts in the United States and in other countries as well.

All rights to U2’s website, the handling of the band’s concert tours as well as the merchandising of its products have been turned over to concert promoter Live Nation effective March 2008.  In return, the Irish band will get 2.1% of the outstanding shares of Live Nation which is equivalent to 1.56 million shares or $19 million worth of stocks.  

Despite the deal between U2 and Live Nation, the band’s recording as well as publishing activities will remain with Universal Records.  The contract is deemed favorable to the promoting giant considering the $400 million gross income during its last tour. 

The contract is however a mere formality or “tying the knot” as U2’s Bono said considering that Live Nation has produced and even promoted all the tours of U2 effective 1997.  The band’s website is also already being managed by a subsidiary of Live Nation, 

U2, a Grammy-winning band, is just one of the five artists that have signed in with Live Nation since last year.  The other artists that are included in the roster of Live Nation’s one-stop shop entertainment center are Shakira, Nickelback, Madonna (who got 1.17 million shares) and Jay-Z (who got 775,000 shares). 

Live Nation is bent on becoming a very influential one-stop shop center for entertainment as it plans to launch its very own ticketing company by the end of 2008 to compete with Ticketmaster which is currently handling ticket sales for its stars.  You can thus expect U2s future concert tours, product merchandising, website promotion and the likes to be done all under one roof. 

With the signing of the deal between U2 and Live Nation fans of the Irish rock band can expect more concert tours and live shows from one of the longest-staying and respected bands in the industry.